Thomas Gustafsson

Thomas Gustafsson is a Professor of Clinical Physiology and Senior Physician at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. He leads the Division of Clinical Physiology within the Department of Laboratory Medicine. His roles include clinician at Karolinska University Hospital and educator across multiple programs at KI, focusing on physiology and clinical physiology training.

Education: Medical degree (1994), PhD in Clinical Physiology (2005), and appointment as Professor (2019). Research focuses on skeletal muscle, cardiovascular health, aging, and non-communicable diseases, combining clinical, molecular, and physiological approaches. Key areas include muscle aging mechanisms, heart failure, and hormone therapy effects on body composition.

Recent articles emphasize post-COVID-19 muscle dysfunction, transgender health biomarkers, and exercise-induced cardiac adaptations. Active grants include longitudinal studies on muscle aging and pericyte roles in ischemic muscle. Supervised over 14 students, with a focus on translational physiology and clinical research.

Labs/Teams: Head of the Division of Clinical Physiology, leading projects on muscle physiology and cardiovascular health. Collaborations include clinical and molecular studies with international teams.